Sunnyside wrestling great Roman Bravo-Young, a senior at Penn State, defeated rival Daton Fix of Oklahoma State by a 3-2 decision in the 133-pound national title match on Saturday at Detroit.
Bravo-Young, 22-0 this season and 36-0 over the last two years, repeated as champion after defeating Fix in a sudden-victory last year.
“It means everything,” Bravo-Young said in the press conference following his win. “I am living my dream every day. I never thought, looking back, where I was a kid growing up in Tucson, Arizona, I never thought I’d be in this position, wrestling in front of my family in a pretty much sold-out arena. I never thought I’d be a national champ yet a two-time champ. I’m excited, and I’m going to celebrate this for a while.”
Bravo-Young is also part of the national-champion Nittany Lion program this season.
Detail of Bravo-Young’s dramatic win over Fix:
He chose down to start the third period, and he escaped. He got back in the lead 3-2. With one minute left, Bravo-Young took another shot, but Fix was resilient. A lot of handfighting occurred between the two toward the end with Bravo-Young avoiding the takedown.
Fix chose bottom to start the second period, but Bravo-Young had a major mat return. Fix overcame that power and escaped, and he tied the score at 2. ]
Bravo-Young got on the board first with a takedown and Fix later had an escape to cut the lead to 2-1.
Bravo-Young, a senior with the Nittany Lions, has his sights on training for the for 2024 Olympic team, which means he is not likely returning for his fifth year of eligibility next year (granted because of the COVID-19 protocols in 2019-20).
He was a four-time state champion at Sunnyside from 2015-18 with a record of 189-0.
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